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The ordinary Torontonians who tried to save lives and ease the hurt

They checked for pulses, they performed CPR, they comforted the victims.

They were ordinary people who provided food and water to the first responders, who came together amid the carnage on Yonge St. on Monday afternoon with acts of selflessness, generosity and kindness.

Bill Perivolaris, a long-time TTC special constable, performed first aid at the scene Monday. He is pictured with Mike Killingsworth, head of transit enforcement at the TTC. (Rick Madonik / Toronto Star)

These are but a few of them.

Bill Perivolaris

Perivolaris, a long-time TTC special constable, was heading to Yonge and Finch Ave. on Monday to respond to a “red alarm,” a silent alarm used for high-level emergencies triggered on a bus at the intersection, when he realized that the situation was far more serious than he had imagined.

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“When I pulled around to the southwest corner of Yonge and Finch, I noticed that the fire truck in front of me stopped, and I saw all the carnage on the sidewalk, many bodies injured, bloodied up,” he told the Star.

Perivolaris and his young partner, who he was training that day, arrived at about 1:30 p.m., and immediately set to work checking on bodies and administering first aid.

“The first thing we’re trained to do is make sure there’s an airway, heartbeat, breathing,” he said. “I just started moving down to one lady, went over and felt her, I knew she was not going to make it, and I moved on to the next one.”

Perivolaris, who had been on shift since 5 a.m. Monday, ended up staying at the scene until about 7:30 p.m., moving down Yonge, helping people as best he could. When other TTC constables showed up, he helped in directing them.

“I’ve been on here for 23 years, and what happened was, in my mind, my training kicked in, and my years of experience kicked in, and I was much too busy to think about what was going on other than to assist as much as possible and allow your training to do what you’re supposed to do,” he said.

“But when it was all over, after a 15-hour shift, and I went home, that’s when I started realizing the hurt, the type of effect it’s going to have on thousands of people in our great city.

“We had a lot of help there from a lot of citizens, just wonderful people. They were trying to assist in first aid, others just trying to comfort people, trying to feel for pulses, trying to assist in gathering evidence.”

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There were about 12 special constables and a sergeant on the scene at one point, supporting police, fire and EMS, said Mike Killingsworth, head of transit enforcement at the TTC.

“I sent a message out to the team yesterday saying how fiercely proud I am of them,” he said. “I don’t think the public in the city realizes the contributions that all of my members, but especially my special constables, make on a daily basis.”

A franchisee of the Pizza Nova on the corner of Yonge and Finch, Edishou was in the back of his store working alongside his wife when he saw the commotion immediately after the van struck.

The scene outside the store was traumatic: at least five people lay injured on the ground, while others were rushing to their aid.

Recognizing a major incident was unfolding, Edishou’s wife — who had burst into tears — quickly left to pick up their children from school. Alone in the store, Edishou realized he could make a small contribution.

As police, fire and ambulance personnel descended, he began throwing pizzas in the oven, putting them in boxes then taking them out to first responders who he knew “couldn’t have breaks, they wouldn’t have anything like lunch.” He also brought them water.

Having something to do helped Edishou as he attempted to process the horror of what had happened right outside his store. An Iranian immigrant, he said the scene reminded him of something that might happen in his own country, not here.

“I’ve been through a lot — that’s why it’s devastating to see this stuff in this country, it’s a beautiful country, peaceful country. This happens? I have no words,” said Edishou.

As he was making the pizza, he was reflecting on how the eldest of his five kids, his 17-year-old daughter, often takes the subway to Yonge and Finch, crossing the same intersection where the injured lay. It could have been anyone who was killed, he said.

Edishou is reluctant to take any credit for his actions, saying “it was nothing — a small token of appreciation.”

Diego DeMatos

DeMatos, a former flight attendant, and a friend had just finished lunch and were driving north on Yonge toward the GoodLife fitness centre at Finch. He was driving slowly, searching for parking when he saw the white rental van driving at what he estimates was up to 80 kilometres an hour.

“There were two people standing at the corner waiting for the light to change to green to cross ... It was a Black female and a white male. It all happened so fast. The lady got turned back into the building and the guy got thrown into the middle of the street and the van kept going,” he said.

DeMatos thought he had witnessed a hit-and-run incident. The man was bleeding from the head and the people attending to the woman were calling out for someone to give them a belt to try to stop the bleeding.

A memorial has sprung up along the stretch of Yonge Street in Toronto where Monday’s deadly van attack occurred. One resident who lives near Yonge and Finch says the area is usually very safe. (The Canadian Press)

His mind was racing, his body shaking. A few metres up the road, there were four or five more people on the ground. Bystanders were screaming, panicking. Some of the victims were moving. Others were not. The sounds of sirens started filling the air.

That is when DeMatos heard someone calling for help. He saw a man attending to another victim who had been struck and was lying in the middle of the street.

DeMatos’s flight training and experience had taught him to remain calm in panicked situations. He had once delivered a baby in mid-air. Another time he attended to a passenger suffering a heart attack during a flight.

“The instinct kicks in and everything rushes back into your head,” he said. “I asked the guy what was wrong before I jumped in. The guy was in panic, so I took over.”

The victim was in his 50s or 60s with light-coloured hair, DeMatos said. He was bleeding from the head and had suffered leg injuries. DeMatos began to perform CPR on the victim, but before long he realized the man was already dead.

“I could see there was nothing we could do. It was too late,” DeMatos said.

A woman nearby came to offer her light-coloured scarf to cover the dead man’s face. Then the police, fire and ambulance crews arrived and cleared people away from the scene.

Since that time, when DeMatos has not been recounting what he saw for journalists, he has been looking for pictures online in order to find out about the man he fought in vain to keep alive.

“I just want to keep following the news and see if I can find the guy ... I don’t know if it was the last minutes that he had,” he said, momentarily overcome with emotion. “It’s important to me.”

Eric Chak

He was heading back to his office near Yonge and Finch from a late lunch around 1:30 p.m. when he saw a person lying on the ground, face-down.

“I first thought it was a car accident,” said the 35-year-old information security analyst with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Then he saw many more people, some standing and others lying on sidewalks, stretching down Yonge. There were no police yet on the scene. Seeing blood all over the place, he quickly decided to jump into action, using his limited first-aid skills.

“The injuries were very graphic,” he said. “Someone was already doing chest compression on one girl, and when I checked, there was no pulse.”

The image of that girl covered in blood with no vital signs haunted him as he kept trying to figure out what just happened, while trying to assist those who needed attention. There were at least five people on the sidewalk who needed CPR or help to “not choke on their own blood,” he said.

When first responders arrived, Chak stepped aside and watched in horror as the girl was wrapped in an orange bag.

After the emergency responders had taken over, Chak headed back to work. He admits he “was scared but thought I was fine.”

“It didn’t hit me until late, when I kept drifting back to the scene and wondering whether I could have done more,” he said on the phone from his home outside Newmarket. The HR office sent him home on an indefinite leave to recover.

Katherine Liu

Outside of the Secret Garden Floral & Gift Boutique near Yonge and Finch on Tuesday, bunches of blooming flowers were set on the sidewalk. A sign amid the blooms read “With heartfelt sympathy! Please feel free to take!”

Liu, a co-owner, said the free flowers are a way to help “the world feel better.” She said there are a lot of pedestrians on Yonge, and many have stopped to pluck a stem or two from the overfilling vases and buckets on the sidewalk.

“They walk by and they just take a little flower,” Liu said.

The store kept the overflowing selection of flowers stocked throughout the day.

One woman in a pink sweater paused outside the store, taking in the scene. She apprehensively plucked a few stems before entering. Moments later, flowers in hand, she left wiping tears from her eyes.

Jesse James

As police investigators started combing through the wreckage and people around the world turned to the news for details, James called on his network of Christian faith leaders in the Willowdale area. At eight o’clock Monday night, more than a dozen people were gathered into the Puck n’ Wings bar at the northeast corner of Yonge and Finch, working on a plan to serve the spiritual needs of their community.

They quickly decided to organize a 1:30 p.m. prayer vigil Tuesday at Olive Square Park, just south of the intersection as well as a 6 p.m. prayer walk near Mel Lastman Square. But they also decided on a longer-lasting contribution to pay tribute to the 10 people killed and others who were injured.

“We’re going to be playing music at Olive Square Park for the next 25 days — a day for every person who has been hurt, killed or injured,” said James, who is a member of the Spring Garden Church. “The goal is to turn our cries of sorrow into songs of healing.”

The music will be played each day at 1:30 p.m., the time the attack began.

“The only instruction they have is to play songs of hope or songs of lament,” James said, adding that while Christian faith leaders have initiated the project, they would like to see musicians or singers of other faiths.

Chris Moise

TDSB trustee Chris Moise was at board offices for meetings all day Monday and had just returned from a break when he heard a staff member yell in horror at what was transpiring outside the window. Moise, trained in first aid and CPR, says he was one of many TDSB staff who rushed out to try and help after seeing the van tear down the sidewalk with people chasing it.

There were people on the ground and “it was chaos,” he said. Moise and a TDSB security officer provided first aid to a woman who was injured and unconscious, and once additional help had arrived, he ran to the street to direct traffic so emergency personnel could get through.

In the aftermath, people inside were traumatized, and some were in tears, Moise said, and counselling staff were made available.

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